WMWV – 93.5

There are many heroes in our area and the Visiting Nurse Home Care and Hospice of North Conway employs many of them including Sandra Ruka, Executive Director.  She says it’s a whole new world for the non-profit and its employees.  “Coronavirus has definitely affected all our operations from office staff to clinical.  We have very much a reduced workforce in the office.  Everyone else is working remotely. Our clinicians are pretty much all working out seeing patients.”  Sandra goes on to explain that the business itself hasn’t been affected by the virus; and that they’re fortunate to have kept their same level of service without turning anyone away for home service or hospice care.  “However it is a vastly different world with everybody working remotely and following all the guidelines that we need to to protect our staff and our patients.”

The Visiting Nurse Home Care and Hospice provides a huge array of services from skilled nursing and home maker related duties to physical, occupational and speech therapy to end of life care.  The need to visit client homes is inevitable.  It’s one thing to practice social distancing, but what happens when home visits need to happen despite the pandemic?  And what happens, especially, if Coronavirus is detected in the residence?

Executive Director Ruka outlines for us the protocol for Visiting Nurse Home Care and Hospice staff is to make those visits wearing full protective PPE gear and they help the families of the patients too.  “Thanks to the effort of an amazing group of volunteers we’ve been able to provide cloth masks to all our patients and their family members.”   Yesterday the organization’s  first “dream team” started making an emergency supply of Tyvek protective gowns to ensure the safety of the clinical staff and clients.

In a recent post on the Visiting Nurse Home Care Hospice of Carroll County they thank their staff with the following message: “Thankful for our amazing staff selflessly serving the home care needs of our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. We celebrate and recognize the contributions of the nurses, home health aides, homemakers, support staff, social workers, therapists, and hospice workers who continue to provide care to clients in their homes and in keeping the office running smoothly.  We would also like to extend our thanks to the volunteers who have made hundreds of masks to keep our staff and clients safe.  We thank them for fulfilling our mission in these most difficult times, providing exceptional home health care enabling independent living and quality of life for our clients and their families.”

For more information about the Visiting Nurse Home Care and Hospice organization, please visit: www.vnhch.org.

In the past few weeks the Lancaster, Sandwich and Stratham Fairs have been cancelled.  It’s not just because of the virus, some fairs depend on advanced advertising money and this year, with closed businesses, it’s just not happening.

Fryeburg Fair’s website is counting down the days to the fair and today it reads 159. Going strong since 1851, it’s the largest agricultural fair in Maine and is attended by over 225,000 people yearly.  Over the years the nightly shows have brought in names like Charlie Daniels, Clint Black, Lady Antebellum.

The Fryeburg Fair has a different and stronger model but for its board of directors, it’s still a decision that has to be made in this its 170^th year.   “At this point the Fryeburg Fair hopes to hold the fair in October but we recognize that there are a lot of variables involved and we at this point believe that we have until early June to make the call.  Unless something happens in the meantime that makes a call for us.  But right now we’re hopeful for a fair but we just don’t know what will happen between now and then.” says David Hastings, Vice President and Finance Director of the Fryeburg Fair.

Keep up to date with announcements by visiting www.fryeburgfair.org.

US Senator Maggie Hassan called in to the Morning Show today and talked with Roy about a plethora of topics. The two discussed the Senator’s plan for New Hampshire to reopen the economy and how and when shes see that playing out.  She also talked about the awareness that needs to be brought up protecting US residents from “stimulus scams. Roy also asked her to touch on the Mount Washington Valley’s concern of the reopening of visitors from out of state. Click below to listen to the full interview.

To learn more about Maggie Hassan and her efforts as a US Senator please visit HASSAN.SENATE.GOV

What happens when your pet gets sick?  The real question is, what do we do in a crisis like this?

Fryeburg Veterinarian Dr. Susan Simpkins says: “We’re seeing all the normal things that we would see; allergies start to tick up this time of year, GI issues,  we’re seeing a lot of porcupine quills I think probably people are getting out there with their dogs, hiking.”  With the importance of social distancing, pets of course allowed into the Fryeburg Veterinary Hospital but owners remain in their cars and the consults are done by phone.  Dr. Simpkins goes on to explain: “Veterinarians and technicians work together to, you know, get an exam done and assess the animal, we then call the owner by phone, the veterinarian does, and discusses what we found in the exam and any recommended treatments.” She goes on to explain that it may take a few phone calls back and forth to truly understand what’s going on and determine the right treatment for the animal based on the conversation between the doctor and the animal owner.

Fryeburg Veterinary clinic is currently taking orders for medications, seasonal preventatives and prescription diets while still practicing social distancing.  All deliveries are done curbside.

As the weather warms up, Dr. Simpkins urges you to protect your pet through the spring season and consider visits and or treatments for heartworm, fleas and ticks and other seasonal parasites.

Visit Dr. Simpkins and her veterinary family at Fryeburgvet.com.